What happens when your first visitor is a machine?

AI systems scan and summarize your content before any human does. If AI can’t find and use your content, you fall out of early consideration.

This shift is driving a new discipline called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) — the process of preparing your content to be accurately understood and summarized by AI platforms.

This roadmap shows CMOs how to ensure their brand is cited in AI-generated answers.

B2B buyers decide earlier than most teams realize. Forty-one percent start with a vendor already in mind.
^{Forrester, “Why Performance Marketing Falls Short,” June 24, 2025}

Four Phases to Strengthen your AI Signal

THE AI-FIRST ROADMAP

1. Plan it → Build the foundation.

What must teams align on before creating AI-ready content?

Teams cannot produce AI-ready content without a shared view of what your brand must be known for or which buyer questions matter most.

GenAI is no longer a pilot. Your teams already use it, but not with the same level of skill or confidence.

CMOs set the foundation by defining five things:

1. A shared understanding of AI visibility
2. Agreement on the buyer questions that drive your category
3. Clarity on the facts and claims AI must get right
4. Alignment on who owns which messages
5. A shared Brand Messaging Guidelines document

2. Run an LLM Brand Visibility Audit

What do you need to know before improving AI visibility?

The audit shows how AI platforms describe you today.

• Get a list of the buyer-relevant questions AI currently associates with your brand, along with the sources it uses to answer them.
• Use these insights to determine which buyer questions matter most and where clearer answers are needed on your site.

These insights give you what you need to build a site-wide FAQ page that answers the highest-value buyer questions AI is already being asked.

By organizing those questions across key personas and buying stages, you create a content structure that supports how real buyers make decisions.

3. Structure it. Give AI one clear version of your story.

How do you make your content easy for AI to extract and interpret?

Overlapping pages, mixed terminology, or conflicting claims confuse AI and often push buyers toward competitors with clearer signals.

The ongoing rule is simple: check before you create.

Improve the page that already covers the topic instead of publishing a new one. As your content grows, maintain clarity and consistency:

• Review existing pages for duplication, outdated claims, or conflicting explanations.
• Keep terminology, facts, and messaging aligned with your Brand Messaging Guidelines.
• Maintain clear internal links so both AI and buyers reach your strongest pages quickly.

Our Content Audit CustomGPT can review drafts for clarity and structure before publishing.

The goal

Build a durable operating system that keeps your message consistent, your content clean, and your visibility strong as AI evolves.

The outcome

A streamlined site that AI can quote accurately and buyers can understand at a glance.

 4. Scale It. Make Visibility a Habit.

How do you make AI visibility part of your ongoing workflow?

Your goal is simple: publish one clear, authoritative answer for every core buyer question. Then back it with facts your team can defend.

Overlapping pages, mixed terminology, or conflicting claims confuse AI and often push buyers toward competitors with clearer signals.

Our Content Audit CustomGPT can review drafts for clarity and structure before publishing.

The goal

Improve the page that covers the topic rather than publishing a new one. Build a durable operating system that keeps your message consistent, your content clean, and your visibility strong as AI evolves.

The outcome

A streamlined site that continues to earn accurate citations and higher visibility in AI answers.

Executive Summary: 90-Day Starter Plan

What’s the fastest way for CMOs to build a baseline, shared language, and early wins?

Month One establishes your AI baseline by auditing current visibility, tracking AI-driven traffic, and surfacing your top buyer questions.

• Run the LLM Brand Visibility Audit to see how AI describes your company today.
• Set up GA4 AI tracking to monitor assistant-driven traffic from AI assistants.
• Identify the top 10 buyer questions LLMs surface across platforms.

Month Two focuses on aligning AI messaging so every team, page, and third-party profile tells the same clear story.

• Draft AI Brand Messaging Guidelines so every team uses the same voice, terms, and proof points.
• Publish sitewide FAQs on priority pages to answer top buyer questions.
• Align terminology and claims across existing pages.
• Audit third-party sources such as ZoomInfo, Crunchbase and Wikipedia, and correct outdated or inaccurate information that shapes AI summaries.

In month three, focus on making your best answers easy for both AI systems and buyers to find, understand, and reuse.

• Put the most important answers on high-visibility pages: About, Product, Solutions, Industry.
• Make key answers visible on primary pages, not buried in PDFs or low-authority locations.
• Ensure answers live in HTML so AI systems can parse them.
• Link these pages from navigation or other high-authority pages to improve reachability.
• Consolidate scattered answers into strong, central pages that own the topic.

What happens when you follow this roadmap?

• You give AI one clear, consistent story to learn, cite, and share.
• Your answers surface earlier, your claims stay accurate, and your brand appears in more AI-driven conversations.
• Most important: you build a durable system that keeps your message strong as AI platforms evolve.

Outcome: A stronger narrative that AI can extract and cite.

How This 90-Day AI Plan Works

FAQs